True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story (4CD Box)

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Covering the fullest scope of Johnny Winter’s prodigious recording career, True To The Blues is sourced from 27 separate albums on the Imperial, Columbia, Blue Sky/Epic, Alligator, Point Blank (Virgin), Friday Music, Megaforce, and Columbia/Legacy labels.  Music ranges from his independently recorded and released The Progressive Blues Experiment of 1968 (“Bad Luck And Trouble,” “Mean Town Blues”) up through 2011’s all-star duets project, Roots (“Maybelline” with Vince Gill, “Dust My Broom” with Derek Trucks).

In a career filled with signature songs that frame a litany for loyal fans, True To The Blues covers every base with its mix of studio and live material: “Highway 61 Revisited,” “Dallas,” “Mean Mistreater,” “Mean Town Blues,” “Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo,” “Rock Me Baby,” “It’s My Own Fault,” “Good Morning Little School Girl,” “Bony Moronie,” “Hustled Down In Texas,” “Be Careful With A Fool,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and more.

True To The Blues rediscovers the Columbia three-LP event of 1970, The First Great Rock Festivals Of The Seventies – Isle Of Wight/Atlanta Pop, previously unavailable on CD, whose opening track was “Mean Mistreater” by Johnny Winter And (his group with Rick Derringer and bassist Randy Hobbs, with Edgar sitting in on drums).  Also from the Atlanta fest are two more previously unreleased numbers, Sonny Boy Williamson II’s “Eyesight To The Blind” (cf. the Who’s Tommy) and Johnny’s take on “Prodigal Son.”

At the core of True To The Blues are the six albums that Winter recorded for Columbia Records, and the six albums that he recorded for manager Steve Paul’s Blue Sky Records (distributed by Epic).

• Columbia: Johnny Winter (1969), Second Winter (1969), Johnny Winter And (1970), Johnny Winter And/Live (1971), Still Alive And Well (1973), Saints & Sinners (1975);
• Blue Sky/Epic: John Dawson Winter III (1974), Together (1976), Captured Live! (1976), Nothin’ But The Blues (1977), White, Hot & Blue (1978), Raisin’ Cain (1980).

In addition, True To The Blues draws tracks from a number of historic Columbia/Legacy archival projects released over the past decade: Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 (2003), Second Winter: Legacy Edition (2004), Breakin’ It Up, Breakin’ It Down (2007), and The Woodstock Experience (2009).

Along the way, a myriad of blues and rock kingpins join Johnny Winter (and occasionally his brother Edgar) in the studio and onstage, starting with Super Session hosts Michael Bloomfield and Al Kooper at the Fillmore East in New York, December 1968.  Collaborators (to name a few) include Chicago blues greats Willie Dixon and Walter “Shakey” Horton (on Winter’s Columbia debut LP, 1969), post-McCoys Rick Derringer (from 1970 to ’75), Muddy Waters and his band featuring James Cotton, “Pinetop” Perkins, and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith (1977), Dr. John, and at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration at Madison Square Garden in 1992, that night’s all-star ‘house band’ featuring Steve Cropper and Booker T.

“If it was not for Johnny Winter,” said Joe Perry of Aerosmith, “I would have never picked up the guitar!”  The testimonial is one of nearly 20 that accompany the box set, from such guitar luminaries as Eddie Van Halen, Angus Young, Pete Townshend, Carlos Santana, Steven Tyler, Billy Gibbons, Joe Satriani, Derek Trucks, Gregg Allman, Leslie West, Vince Gill, Glenn Tipton, Mark Knopfler, and many more.  The 4,000-word liner notes essay is written by Guitar World magazine editor-in-chief Brad Tolinski, who penned the notes for the 2013 double-CD, The Essential Johnny Winter (Columbia/Legacy).

True To The Blues: The Johnny Winter Story

Release date: February 25, 2014
Label: Columbia/Legacy 88883 74085 2

Disc One – Selections: 1. Bad Luck And Trouble (A) • 2. Mean Town Blues (A) • 3. Mike Bloomfield’s Introduction Of Johnny Winter (live, B) • 4. It’s My Own Fault (live, B) • 5. I’m Yours And I’m Hers (C) • 6. Mean Mistreater (C, with Willie Dixon and Walter “Shakey” Horton) • 7. Dallas (C) • 8. Be Careful With A Fool (C) • 9. Leland Mississippi Blues (live, D) • 10. Memory Pain (E) • 11. Highway 61 Revisited (E) • 12. Miss Ann (E) • 13. Hustled Down In Texas (E) • 14. Black Cat Bone (live, F) • 15. Johnny B. Goode (live, F).

Disc Two – Selections: 1. Eyesight To The Blind (previously unreleased, live at Atlanta Pop Festival, 1970) • 2.Johnny Winter’s Intro (live at Atlanta Pop Festival, 1970) • 3. Prodigal Son (previously unreleased, live at Atlanta Pop Festival, 1970) • 4. Mean Mistreater (live, G) • 5. Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo (H) • 6. Guess I’ll Go Away (H) • 7. On The Limb (H) • 8. It’s My Own Fault (live, I) • 9. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (live, I) • 10. Good Morning Little School Girl (live, J) • 11. Mean Town Blues (live, J).

Disc Three – Selections: 1. Still Alive And Well (K) • 2. Rock Me Baby (K) • 3. Rock & Roll (K) • 4. Rollin’ ’Cross The Country (L) • 5. Hurtin’ So Bad (L) • 6. Bad Luck Situation (L) • 7. Self Destructive Blues (M) • 8. Sweet Papa John (M) • 9. Rock & Roll People (M) • 10. Harlem Shuffle (live, with Edgar Winter, N) • 11. Bony Moronie (live, O) • 12. Roll With Me (live, O) • 13. Tired Of Tryin’ (P) • 14. TV Mama (P) • 15. Walkin’ Thru The Park (with Muddy Waters & James Cotton, P) • 16. I Done Got Over It (live, with Muddy Waters & James Cotton, Q).

Disc Four – Selections: 1. One Step At A Time (R) • 2. Honest I Do (R) • 3. Nickel Blues (R) • 4. Talk Is Cheap (S) • 5. Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (S) • 6. Bon Ton Roulet (S) • 7. Don’t Take Advantage Of Me (T) • 8. Master Mechanic (U) • 9. Mojo Boogie (V) • 10. Stranger Blues (live, W) • 11. Illustrated Man (with Dr. John, X) • 12. Hard Way (Y) • 13. Highway 61 Revisited (live, Z) • 14. Maybelline (featuring Vince Gill, AA) • 15. Dust My Broom (featuring Derek Trucks, AA).

Album index:
A – from The Progressive Blues Experiment (Liberty LP-12431, recorded 1968, released 1969)
B – from Fillmore East: The Lost Concert Tapes 12/13/68 (Columbia/Legacy 85278, recorded 1968, released 2003)
C – from Johnny Winter (Columbia 9826, recorded and released 1969)
D – from The Woodstock Experience (Columbia/Legacy 88697 48244 2, rec. 1969, rel. 2009)
E – from Second Winter (Columbia 9947, recorded and released 1969)
F – from Second Winter: Legacy Edition (Columbia/Legacy 85735, recorded 1970 at The Royal Albert Hall, London, released 2004)
G – from The First Great Rock Festivals Of The Seventies – Isle Of Wight/Atlanta Pop (Columbia 30805, recorded July 5, 1970, at Middle Georgia Raceway, Byron, GA, released 1971, previously unavailable on CD)
H – from Johnny Winter And (Columbia 30221, recorded and released 1970)
I – from Johnny Winter And/Live (Columbia 30475, recorded 1970 at Pirate’s World, Dania, FL, released 1971)
J – from Live At The Fillmore East 10/3/70 (Collectors Choice 60002, rec. 1970, rel. 2010)
K – from Still Alive And Well (Columbia 32188, recorded and released 1973)
L – from Saints & Sinners (Columbia 32715, recorded 1974, released 1975)
M – from John Dawson Winter III (Blue Sky 33292, recorded and released 1974)
N – from Together (Blue Sky 34033, recorded 1975 at Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA, released 1976)
O – from Captured Live! (Blue Sky 33944, recorded 1976 at San Diego Sports Arena and Oakland Coliseum, released 1976)
P – from Nothin’ But The Blues (Blue Sky 34813, recorded and released 1977)
Q – from Breakin’ It Up, Breakin’ It Down (Columbia/Legacy 88697 07283 2, recorded 1977 at Masonic Temple Theatre, Detroit, released 2007)
R – from White, Hot & Blue (Blue Sky 35475, recorded and released 1978)
S – from Raisin’ Cain (Blue Sky 36343, recorded 1979, released 1980)
T – from Guitar Slinger (Alligator 4735, recorded and released 1984, Grammy®-nominated)
U – from Serious Business (Alligator 4742, recorded and released 1985, Grammy®-nominated)
V – from 3rd Degree (Alligator 4748, recorded and released 1986)
W – from Live Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (Friday Music 1085, recorded late 1980s, released 2008)
X – from Let Me In (Pointblank 91744-2, recorded and released 1991)
Y – from Hey, Where’s Your Brother? (Pointblank 0777 7 86512 2 2, rec. and rel. 1992)
Z – from Bob Dylan – The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (Columbia 53230, recorded 1992 at Madison Square Garden, released 1993)
AA – from Roots (Megaforce 1603, recorded and released 2011)

Source: Legacy Recordings